Rick had already gotten the third degree from his sister, so he tried to tease his way out of it. “Amos, you need your glasses changed if that’s what you were seein’. Had many customers today in here?”
“Nope, and I saw what I saw. Reminded me of the way I looked at Iris back before she said she’d go out with me. Jennie Sue is bringin’ cake tomorrow to the book club. What are you goin’ to say to her when you deliver the pecans? You could tell her that she looks right nice and maybe pick a bouquet of wildflowers,” Amos suggested. “Town is already sayin’ stuff about y’all. If you’re goin’ to have the name, you might as well have the game.”
“And what’re they sayin’ about us?” Rick asked.
“That y’all dated on the sly in high school and that you are the reason her husband left her. She’s run home to you.” Amos grinned.
“Bullshit!” Rick sputtered.
Amos raised a hand. “Truth. That’s just the way I heard it. So?”
“It’s just talk,” Rick said. “It isn’t even reasonable, but then gossip seldom is.”
“Amen,” Amos said. “But you better be careful, son. If they catch you holding hands with her, they’ll start polishing up the silver punch bowl at the church for a wedding reception.”
Rick threw a hand over his heart in mock horror. “Now that would be horrible, wouldn’t it?”
“For the ladies at the church, it would.” Amos nodded. “They’d be real upset if they was to go to all that work for nothing.”
Rick patted him on the shoulder. “Seriously, thanks for the advice. I like Jennie Sue and we might be friends, but you and I both know that’s as far as it could ever go.”
“Stranger things have happened. It’s closin’ time. Give me a minute to turn off the lights and I’ll walk out with you,” Amos said. “I also heard that Jennie Sue was seen out at the cemetery visitin’ her Baker grandparents’ graves. She didn’t go to the Wilshires’, though. I wonder what’s going on with that.”
“Guess she didn’t have the time.” Rick really did like Jennie Sue, and he’d felt more alive with her than he had in years. Maybe it was because he didn’t see pity in her eyes when she saw him walk with a limp or noticed the scar on his chin, or maybe it was a mutual love for gardening. Whatever it was—well, he enjoyed being with her.
He walked a couple of blocks up the road to the café. The truck was parked behind the building, so he went in the back door to see if Cricket was finished or if he needed to wait on her. His eyes took a minute to adjust from the blaring sunlight to the dimmer café, but when they did, he noticed that Jennie Sue was sitting alone in a booth toward the back.
The place was almost empty, but Cricket still had her hands full, so he took a seat in the next booth down from where Jennie Sue was sitting.
“Hello,” she said.
“Evenin’. What brings you to town?” Though he faced her, a bench and two tables separated them. Surely that was enough that it wouldn’t create more problems.
“I’m still full from dinner with Nadine, so I decided that a strawberry shake would make a wonderful supper,” she said.
“And here it is.” Cricket set it in front of her. “I’ll be another ten minutes, Rick. If you want to come sit at the bar, I’ll make you a shake, too.”
“I’m fine right here,” he said.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that was not the answer she wanted, but dammit, he was a grown man and didn’t need her constant meddling.
“So how’s your first day on the job?” he asked.
“Fine. I like working for the sisters.” Jennie Sue unwrapped a straw and stuck it down in her milkshake. “But I’ve told them that it’s temporary. I didn’t work to get my degree so I could clean houses. I want a job in a firm with benefits. So how was your day?”
“Did some weedin’ and harvestin’ this morning for tomorrow’s deliveries and for the farmers’ market in Sweetwater. Then drove the bookmobile up to Longworth this afternoon.” He wondered what folks did with false rumors. Did they go into a recycling bin? Change the names and the places and use them all again?
“What are you thinkin’ about?” Jennie Sue asked.
“Rumors.” He shared his recycling idea.
Her blue eyes twinkled with amusement, and his heart actually skipped a beat. “Think we could start a business reselling them? I could run the office and man the phones, bringing them to my attention. You could sort through them and decide what was real and what was false and then we could sell the untrue ones to other towns.”
Cricket brought an order of french fries and a tall glass of sweet tea with a wedge of lemon and set it down in front of Rick. “I’ve got to stick around a little longer. Elaine had to make a run home to see about her mother. You might as well have something to eat.”
“Thank you,” Rick said.
“What were y’all laughing about?” she asked.
“Gossip and rumors. We may go into business together recycling them. Want to partner up with us?” Jennie Sue asked.
“You are both crazy, and I wouldn’t go into any kind of business with you, not ever.” Cricket flounced off.
“Never say never,” Rick called after her.
“How long have you been home?” she asked.
“Two years. I was on the West Coast in a hospital and rehab center for nine months before they discharged me on a medical with full disability. My dad died right after I got home, so I just picked up the shovel and hoe and kept things going.”
“I admire anyone who goes into the service and who makes a livin’ working with his own two hands in the dirt,” she said.
“Well, thank you. I wish you weren’t leaving Bloom. I think we could be really good friends,” he said.
“I’m sure we could.” She hoped that their friendship would endure long-distance when she left Bloom.
Chapter Seven
A short Texas rain on Friday afternoon brought the temperature down into the low nineties but jacked the humidity up, so it seemed hotter than it had been that morning. Jennie Sue made the cake, and after a quick shower, she dressed in fresh jeans and a clean T-shirt and wished she’d brought along a sundress or two when she’d packed. Cricket had looked so cute in the one she’d worn to the Fourth party that Jennie Sue was a little jealous.
She’d seen a rack of brightly colored ones when she’d gone to Walmart with the sisters. Maybe she’d splurge and buy a couple when they went again. Lettie was waiting beside the truck when she arrived, and Nadine was doing the same by her van when she carried the cake down the stairs that evening.
Nadine started talking before she even got the door closed. “I heard about you having dinner with Rick Lawson yesterday evening. He’s a good guy—kind of broken since he got back from wherever to hell they sent him, but he’ll come out of it.” She fastened her seat belt. “Now, wagons, ho! Let’s go argue with Amos about Scarlett O’Hara.”
“It wasn’t dinner or a date.” Jennie Sue backed the van out and started toward the bookstore. “He sat in one booth and I sat in another and we had a conversation. That’s all there was to it. We had to talk so loud that everyone who was in the place could hear us.”
“Did he pay for your strawberry milkshake?” Lettie asked. “I heard that he did.”
“He did not. He didn’t pay for his fries and tea, either. Cricket must run a bill in there or else she gets free food for her and Rick, because I didn’t see either of them pay, and they left before I did.” Jennie Sue pulled in behind a cute little red Smart car. “Who owns that?”
“It’s Amos’s new toy. He says he gets almost fifty miles a gallon with it. I wouldn’t have one of them things, no matter how cheap it is to run,” Lettie said. “Get hit with a big car and it’s lights out.”
Nadine unfastened her seat belt. “I been meanin’ to tell you that I ain’t never had a housekeeper that cleans like you do. I couldn’t find a speck of dust on anything, not even the rungs of the rockin’ chair in the spare bedroom. I hope you can’t find a job.”
“Nadine!” Lettie scolded. “That’s not nice. But we love havin’ you close by.”